DACs

[aga]

Purchasing ERC4 to connect to PA100
Which DAC better?

[garbulky]

Aug 22, 2020 11:03:20 GMT -5 aga said:

Purchasing ERC4 to connect to PA100
Which DAC better?

Hey buddy. There is no PA-100. There is a PA-1 and that is a power amp with no dac. There is a PT-100 which has a DAC which I assume is what you are referring to.
Honestly it's kind of hard to say which dac would sound better. If I have to guess the ERC-4 may sound slightly better but there is a good chance there will be no difference.
If you use digital connections, you could use a really cheap dvd player's digital connection the PT-100 and the sound will be the same as ERC-4 as long as it's digital. Comparing the analog output of the ERC-4 vs the PT-100, there may be a difference, but both are so close that the person's setup and preference can change things either way.

If you don't need to use the subwoofer output and want to do things a bit cheaper, I would instead buy the DC-1 which imo sounds slightly better than the PT-100. Then use a cheap DVD player to connect to the DC-1 digitally.

[aga]

Thank you
My mistake regarding the pre-amp
New to some of these issues

[creimes]

I would say try both ways once you have the ERC-4 and see which you prefer. I have an older Pioneer Elite DVD/CD player and I find even using the coax digital connection to my XMC-2 does not sound as good as me ripping the CD to my Mac Mini and playing the files through even iTunes but I actually use digital software called "Audirvana" to play all my stored media and Tidal. I actually just received my latest CD purchase "Matthew Good- Avalanche" and it sounds better ripped and played through my Mac then it does just playing it on my CD player, so I'm guessing something like a ERC-4 would sound much better than my Pioneer even though I'm using the DAC in my XMC-2, so the transport can matter in terms of a good quality transport.

Listen both ways and let us know your findings

Chad

[garbulky]

Aug 22, 2020 12:38:24 GMT -5 aga said:

Thank you
My mistake regarding the pre-amp
New to some of these issues

Oh sure. So this might help.
(Some people will disagree here, but this is true for the most part)
What matters is where the DAC converts the signal from digital to analog. Until then the sound stays the same regardless of it's from a cheap source or expensive source. So a cheap dvd player sending a digital signal to the PT-100 DAC should sound the same as the ERC-4 sending a digital signal.

However the ERC-4 also has a dac (hence its xlr and rca outputs). So does the Pt-100. So if you use the PT-100's analog inputs to connect the ERC-4 analog outputs, then you may encounter a sound difference because then you would be hearing the dac of the ERC-4. I suggest trying it out for yourself to see which one you like better. You can connect both digitally and analog at the exact same time and switch between the two using your remote. There's a good chance you may not hear any difference.

[aga]

Thanks to all
Will try all your suggestions

[selind40]

aga.....you'll find the knowledge level of some of the folks on here incredible, and always willing to give you some advice and ideas. Most are really friendly and great peeps, then there's crusty " Get off my lawn" guys like myself. Enjoy!

[Boomzilla]

Aug 22, 2020 12:38:24 GMT -5 aga said:

Thank you
My mistake regarding the pre-amp
New to some of these issues

Hi aga -

It isn't you. Emotiva has the most confusing product designations I've ever seen. Fine products, but suckey names.